Asia is the largest and most populous of the world's seven continents, but historically Asia has once become a place despised by foreigners: India, Burma, Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries have become colonies of great powers, and China, Thailand, Iran, Turkey and other countries have become semi-colonies. At that time, Japan, the only country in the vast Asia, was freed from the national crisis of becoming a colony and a semi-colony. In the second half of the 20th century, Asian countries, which had been discriminated against by the great powers, began to create amazing development miracles.
First, since the 1950s, Japan has entered a period of rapid economic growth after the war. In the 1960s and 1970s, the four Asian tigers, represented by Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea, began to be active. In the late 1970s and early 1980s Chinese mainland began to carry out reform and opening up. In the 1980s, Under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi, known as the "Prime Minister of Computing", India began to focus on the development of the software outsourcing industry. In December 1986, Vietnam also began to innovate and open up. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines were known as the "Four Little Tigers of Asia" because of their rapid economic development.
At present, the total economic volume of more than 200 countries and regions in the world is about 80 trillion US dollars, of which Asian countries account for nearly 30 trillion US dollars. The biggest miracle in the development miracle of Asian countries is undoubtedly China: of Asia's nearly 30 trillion US dollars of economic aggregate Chinese mainland has contributed about 45% of the force. Today, China is the world's second largest economy, the world's second largest consumer market, the world's largest trading country, the world's largest steel producer, the world's largest agricultural country, the world's second largest foreign investment country and the world's fastest growing economy.
As early as 2010, the mainland's industrial output value has surpassed that of the United States. Today, China's industrial output is almost equal to that of the United States, Japan, and Germany (30% of the world's share). With 39 industrial categories, 191 medium categories and 525 subcategories, China is the only country in the world with all the industrial categories in the United Nations Industrial Classification. In 2019, 130 Chinese companies were shortlisted for the world's top 500 companies. Today, China's total GDP is close to 70% of that of the United States. China's development miracle is not limited to the economic field, but also manifested in the military, science and technology and other fields.
China has the largest army unit in the world. The Chinese Army not only has the strongest artillery units and mechanized and missile units of various services, but also has advanced political and ideological work, strict discipline, and high morale that have also convinced all countries in the world. The Navy's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, was launched on June 17, 2022. The fifth-generation fighter independently developed by the mainland represented by the J-20 in the Air Force is the most advanced fighter in the Asian region at present. China is also one of only nine countries in the world to possess nuclear weapons.
China has no strength at all inferior to that of the United States in the fields of quantum communication satellites, quantum radar, anti-satellite weapons, and laser weapons. Only the United States, China, Russia and the European Union have satellite positioning systems that can cover the whole world, and China is also the only country in the world that has mastered anti-ship ballistic missile technology. At present, China has no strength at all inferior to that of the United States in the field of artificial intelligence. In addition, China also belongs to the existence of leading majority countries in the fields of blockchain, network security, virtual reality, and drones.
China's rise is different from that of the United States, Russia, Japan, and Europe: China's rise is actually a national revival after a century of decline in modern times, a return to its original position in history. Peace, harmony and harmony are the concepts that the Chinese nation has always inherited, and hegemony and hegemony have never been China's choice. We do not have the genes to invade others and dominate others in our blood, and we have always opposed the practice of harming others and benefiting ourselves, and you lose and I win. The strength of the United States did not make the Americas the richest region in the world, but made other American countries the backyard of the United States.
But China's approach is completely different from that of the United States: China has long played the role of the number one trading partner for Japan, South Korea and its ASEAN neighbors. In fact, there are many examples of economic miracles in Asian countries that have hitched a ride on China's economy. In recent years, the "Belt and Road" proposed by China is also based on promoting the common development of countries along the route. China's help to its Asian neighbors is not limited to economic cooperation: China, Asia's only permanent member of the UNITED Nations Security Council, has always played a major role in international affairs.
China has long been a responsible major country internationally. In the process of rising, Western countries have adhered to a zero-sum game mentality. In this way of thinking, the maximization of self-interest is based on the plundering of the interests of others. But China's rejuvenation adheres to the concept of win-win cooperation. In the early days of the mainland's reform and opening up, capital and technology were introduced from Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, but how many Japanese and South Korean enterprises are not fed by China's huge market?
Such examples themselves prove that win-win cooperation is fully realistic. At present, China and its Asian neighbors have achieved positive economic interaction, but there is still room for further improvement of mutual trust in the political field. In the past few decades, Asian countries, including China, have created their own development miracles. In 2021, orders for the global civil ship sector will be divided among shipbuilders in China, South Korea and Japan. At present, the strength of China and the United States in the field of artificial intelligence is comparable. South Korea and Japan can also rank third and fourth in the world in this field.
In addition to The three countries of East Asia, China, Japan and South Korea, India's strength in the software outsourcing industry, the aerospace industry and the film industry is also remarkable. Iran is a country that has rapidly industrialized under the heavy sanctions of western countries, led by the United States: in 2010, Iran became the world's twelfth largest automobile producer. Iran was also ranked 38th in the global industry list by The Economist magazine. The development of China, Japan, South Korea, India, Iraq and other countries in the past few decades is indeed a miracle that has amazed the world, but today the international order is still under the domination of Western countries.
In the eyes of Western countries, the fast-growing Asian countries are seen more as independent individuals than as a consortium similar to the European Union. With an area of 44.579 million square kilometers and a population of more than 4 billion, Asia is divided into six major plates: East Asia, West Asia, South Asia, North Asia, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. Each plate has the strength to stand alone, and each plate has its own distinct characteristics. This is in stark contrast to the fact that European civilizations almost all originated from ancient Greco-Roman civilizations.
East Asia is mainly a region deeply influenced by ancient Chinese civilization, South Asia is mainly a region deeply influenced by ancient Indian civilization, West Asia is an Area of Islamic Civilization, Central Asia is mainly a Turkic cultural region, and Southeast Asia is an area that is influenced by both Chinese civilization and ancient Indian civilization. Asian countries not only vary greatly in the origins of traditional cultures, but also in terms of practical political and economic aspects, they are also the continents with the greatest global differences. Relatively small differences enable European countries to form European and American groups to warm up, while large differences have led to the inability of Asian countries to form the "Asian League".
Not to mention that all Asian countries are grouped together to form the "Asian League", even if china, Japan, and south Korea alone want to achieve East Asian integration, there are real difficulties. In fact, regional cooperation between China, Japan, and South Korea in East Asia has long been proposed. If China, Japan, and South Korea can successfully realize the East Asian integration framework, they can create an Asian version of the European Union. Considering the population size, economic aggregates, military strength, and scientific and technological level of China, Japan, and South Korea, it can be said that the influence of this organization in the world may even exceed that of the European Union.
However, the process of East Asian integration has always faced many uncertain variables: First, Japan and South Korea are controlled by the United States to a considerable extent, so as long as the interference of the United States is not excluded, it is difficult to achieve the goal of regional integration in East Asia. In addition to the intervention from the United States, the three East Asian countries are currently facing many objective and practical problems, such as ideological differences, territorial disputes, Japan's historical war crimes, and the reunification of the dprk and the ROK. Under the combined influence of this series of factors, it is difficult to achieve political mutual trust among East Asian countries.
Of course, we have no intention of becoming a leader in Asia. In the future, we will still aim to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and at the same time achieve win-win cooperation with other countries on the basis of living our own lives. The countries around China, such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, have been deeply influenced by Chinese civilization in history. In the future, when China is strong to a certain extent, these countries are bound to strengthen political and economic cooperation with us. In the future, Asia will be at the center of the world, and China's revival is the biggest engine of Asia's rise.